Tokyo, Seoul face off over protest note

ISLE DISPUTE:Seoul said answering Tokyo’s letter might strengthen its territorial claim, while Japan denounced the South’s decision to return it as a breach of protocol

AFP, TOKYO

War veterans wave a South Korean flag as they attend a rally organized by conservative and anticommunist civic groups against the Japanese government, in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

Japan yesterday refused to take back a letter sent by its own prime minister after Seoul said it would not accept delivery of the note, as a row over islands threatened to descend into diplomatic farce.

It was the latest move in an increasingly bitter tit-for-tat dispute that has engulfed the two nations for nearly two weeks.

South Korea said earlier in the day it would return the protest from Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda without answering it, for fear any move to acknowledge the missive would bolster Tokyo’s claim to islands that both sides say they own.

That sparked an angry response from Tokyo, which accused its neighbor of contravening diplomatic norms.

“Under usual protocol, it is inconceivable that letters exchanged between leaders are sent back,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the government’s top spokesman, told a news conference.

“I hope [South Korean President Lee Myung-bak] will accept the letter, which was sent to deliver our prime minister’s thoughts,” he said.

The letter to Lee has not even made it to Seoul, having been kept at the South’s embassy in Tokyo, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said, announcing the intention to hand the note back.

However, in what was beginning to look like a real live game of hot potato, the Japanese foreign ministry turned away a South Korean diplomat, believed to have been carrying Noda’s letter, at the gate of the ministry building, NHK footage showed.

“I’m sorry to say this, but returning a diplomatic letter is below even being childish,” Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi said at a press conference.

The letter was subsequently put in the post, registered delivery, a spokesman at the foreign ministry in Seoul said.

Despite their strong economic ties, the two countries have a frequently uneasy relationship, in which historical animosities constantly play in the background.

That relationship has sharply worsened since Lee paid a surprise visit on Aug. 10 to the Seoul-controlled islands, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japan.

He said his trip, the first by a South Korean president, was intended to press Japan to settle grievances left over from its colonial rule in Korea from 1910-1945.

Lee further angered Japan by saying later that Emperor Akihito must sincerely apologize for past excesses should he wish to visit South Korea.

Noda’s letter said Lee’s visit to the islands and his call on the emperor were “regrettable,” Kyodo News said.

Noda upped the ante in Tokyo yesterday, telling lawmakers Lee’s remark “considerably deviates from common sense” and the president “should apologize for and retract it.”

He said Japan was keeping a cool head, but Seoul needed to calm down.

Tokyo, caught on the hop by the island visit, recalled its ambassador to Seoul, canceled a planned visit by its finance minister scheduled for this month and said it would review a foreign exchange swap accord.